“Better than well. The girl is a godsend. She’s got a way with the older ladies that I didn’t see coming and she’s incredible with the teenagers, too. We had a boy come in yesterday, wanting to color his hair orange to match his new dirt bike. Elena talked him into a nice faux hawk instead. I swear to God, he did the whole hip roll swagger thing when he walked out. It was hilarious.”

“Why not just let him color his hair? Being that age is all about learning to express yourself, right?”

“For sure. The problem is how impulsive they are about it. I guarantee he would’ve been back in a week, wanting his brown hair back.”

“So let him do it then. Let him learn on his own.”

Jenny winked. “I could have, but his mother and four sisters are some of my best customers.”

Ah. He chuckled. “Well, now I understand.”

She set her bowl down to twist her hair into a bun, which was seriously hot as fuck. Just made him want to take it all down again. Then again, there was something inherently sexy about sitting on her bed in the lamplight, eating ice cream, while rain hit the ground outside. Just being there with her like that turned him on in a way he couldn’t explain other than it felt comfortable. Right.

“How long have you had your piercing?” she asked, spooning up another bite with a smirk. “Was that an impulsive decision?”

“Fuck yeah.” He nodded. “Just back from Afghanistan the second time. Thought I was invincible.” Just the memory made him grimace. “Getting a needle shoved through my dick pretty much proved that wrong. I had friggin’ tears in my eyes.”

Her smirk turned into quiet laughter that shook the bed. He grabbed for her toe and she laughter harder. “Obviously you’ve come to...enjoy it.”

Now it was his turn to grin. “I’m not complaining. Are you?”

The dim lighting made the blush in her cheeks glow. “Definitely not.”

“Good.” He squeezed her toe and set his empty bowl on the nightstand. “So there’s something I need to talk to you about.”

Eyebrows raised, she shot him a glance. “A good kind of something or a bad kind of something?”

“Depends.”

“On?”

“Whether or not you’re a fan of meet-n-greets.” He pushed a hand through his hair and hesitated. Sex without a rubber and meeting his family in one weekend might be pushing his luck. “My grandpa fell earlier.”

She gasped, but he lifted a hand.

“He’s fine, but my folks drove over tonight to check in anyway. They’re staying the weekend.”

“Oh.” She reached her bowl over, set it inside of his, and resettled. This time, draping her bare legs over his. “Okay, so...?”

He told her about the half-cocked comment to his mother and her presumptuous response. “You don’t have to come with, but I’m pretty sure my mom wasn’t kidding about coming down here. She’s...”

“Nosey?” Jenny trailed her fingertips along his thigh, toying with the hem of his boxers. Nothing seductive or flirty. Just...affectionate.

“More like desperate,” he chuckled.

“You haven’t brought home many girls, huh?” A pleased smile twitched at her mouth.

“You really wanna go there, sugar?”

“Chances are your mother will tell me anyway, so maybe I should hear your version first.”

Christ. One, she’d more or less just agreed to go with him tomorrow. Two, her fingers were skimming closer and closer to his balls.

“You may have a point there.” Good thing there wasn’t much to tell. “I had a serious girlfriend in high school. Liz. She left a bra in my bedroom once and it got mixed in with my laundry.”

“Oh, shit.” Jenny’s eyes went big.

“Yeah. Total disaster. My mom gave it to Father Joe and asked him to talk to me about premarital sex. I still can’t look the man in the eye.”

Collapsing backward, Jenny rolled with laughter. “Your priest? That is so wrong!”

“You’re telling me?” He shifted until he was stretched out beside her, his legs hanging off the short side of the bed. “Then there was this one girl in college. Victoria. She came home with me once at Christmas because her family was going through some shit. She ended up stealing some of my dad’s Royals cards. Pawned them so she’d have money for weed. Turns out her parents had been split for years, and getting collector cards out of hock costs a small fortune.”

“Aww, you got them back for him?” She snuggled into his side and laid her hand on his stomach, so he curled an arm around her shoulders and watched the fan go round on the ceiling.

“Yep. Believe it or not, I wasn’t always this badass, inked dude.” He gave her a playful squeeze and she wriggled her fingers into his abs.

“Don’t ruin my fantasy, Superman.”

“Sorry, babe. Beneath it all, I’m just an average guy.”

“Who’s gone to war three times. Who’s saved God only knows how many people. Yep. Totally average.” Her hand slid down to his junk and he braced himself, sure her intent was to assuage the war talk with sex. But instead, her touch was gentle again. Intimate, but not sexual at all. And it felt fucking amazing.

“Tell me about you. Feel free to skip the part about how much your mother loved Reed, though. I don’t need to hear that shit.”

Jenny gave a short laugh. “You’re safe then. She only tolerated him because I did. For the most part, she thinks he’s got a stick up his ass.”

He liked her mother already. “My kind of woman.”

“Hey now. Don’t get any ideas. She’s single, but she’s recovering from a major cardiac event. She couldn’t keep up with you.” Down her fingers went, sliding over his sac, then back to his dick, tracing the outline of his head so lightly that he shivered. “Sorry. I didn’t even realize I was doing that.”

He couldn’t see her face, but he heard the embarrassment in her voice. “Don’t apologize. Don’t stop either. It’s feels good.” He kissed her temple and ran his fingers through her hair. This time she was the one who trembled, and a crooked grin quirked on his lips. Petting. They were fucking petting each other and he wasn’t even thinking about getting laid.

Except now. Now he was thinking about sex. Dammit.

“Go on,” he prompted her, tugging gently on a dark lock of her hair.

She sighed. “The only guy I ever actually brought home was Jake. I mean, I guess there were a couple boys in high school, but they don’t count. They just picked me up at the door and dropped me off a few hours later.”

Fucking Jake. Dudes named Jake were always trouble. “Tell me about this Jake.”

She shook with amusement and he imagined her rolling her eyes. “Not much to tell. He was a decent guy, but he wanted to travel and I didn’t want to leave my mom. I’m the only family she has here.”

Sounded a little more current than he’d expected. “When was that?”

“A few years ago.”

He nodded, not thrilled, but not wanting to act like a caveman either. Of course she had a past. She’d been upfront about it from the beginning.

She pushed up on her elbow and look down at him. Her dark eyes sparkled against the light. “I’ve never actually met anyone’s parents before. I’ve never been that girl.”

Just like that, his Neanderthal reared to life, full force. “You know why? Because you’ve always been mine. Not theirs. Mine.”

She smiled. “I shouldn’t like that proprietary BS, but I do. It’s hot as hell.”

“You finally admitting you belong to me?” He winked and she gave his jewels a light squeeze.

“Keep it up, Superman.”

“No need to get bent out of shape, sugar—you’re literally and figuratively holding my balls right now.”

“Aww. I can’t wait to tell Josh and Tony you said that.”

God, this woman. He pinched between his eyes, laughing. “Let’s just go to bed.”

“Only if I can keep touching your junk.”

“I’m never going to complain about that.”

They flipped around and climbed under the blankets, reassuming the position. One of her legs hitched up over his and he turned his face into her hair, letting himself get lost in not only her touch, but everything about her. Fucking perfection.